Grubin is an experienced documentarian, and he plays to his strengths here. He certainly makes the most of the Manhattan setting, whether his characters are practicing at Juilliard or playing for cash in the Times Square subway station.

Little more than a showcase for Mr. Quint - whose acting is almost as toneless as his playing is sublime - this trite, sunny drama pins lengthy musical interludes onto the flimsiest of narratives and hopes for the best.

The use of real musicians (both professionals, like Nellie McKay, and street performers) provides a certain authenticity to the performances, but the film's wide-eyed view of New York as a wonderland of harmonic diversity soon grows as tiresome as the film's trite romantic shuffling.